And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. (Bereshit 23:1)
Sarah was Abraham's wife and mother of Isaac. So the story goes, God promised Abraham a son, and he waits. Until one day Abraham gets a visit from three men who he knows are really angels and one of them tells Sarah that she will get pregnant. Sarah laughed in reply. As a monument she names her son Itzchak (Itzchak is Hebrew for 'he will laugh').
And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. (Bereshit 21:3)
A midrash tells of Sarah's death. If you remember God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah. Abraham does it and we all know what happens. However while he's away, Sarah's alone at home and Satan (Note: the Jewish one i.e. the angel, not the Devil) tells her what Abraham intends to do to their one child. Sarah heard and died.
And Sarah died in Kiriatharba--the same is Hebron--in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. (Bereshit 23:2)
I think this story is widely misinterpreted. Or at least the picture I got which depicted Sarah as a tired cynic.
She left her home and family to follow her husband to God and in return was to be given something the average person expects to get anyways, a son. Then when a normal person would have long lost hope she's told that she'll have a son so she laughs. I look at it like this:
A 99 year old woman who's gone this far with faith finally gets told the one thing she's been waiting to hear for several decades. What do you say to that? Sarah's flustered and doesn't know what to say so she laughs.
Similarly when Satan comes to her door and tells her that Abraham is to sacrifice her son to God she clings to that faith. Sarah gets told the one thing she didn't expect or want to hear by another angel and flustered, she doesn't know what to reply to she dies.
Sarah and Abraham are very much alike. They both have an unyielding faith in God that is absolutely fanatical. It's something to laud, but it's also something very dangerous. Abraham's faith nearly kills Isaac and Sarah's faith ultimately kills her. When she hears the news of the Akedah she is torn between her unmovable faith in God and her firm motherly instincts, she has no way out that doesn't defy God or her being so she dies. The Torah warns us that faith has a cost and needs to be combined with common sense, otherwise it becomes destructive.
And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre--the same is Hebron--in the land of Canaan. (Bereshit 23:19, Parshat Chaya Sara)